My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman

My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman
File:MyNextGuest.png
Genre	Talk show
Directed by	Michael Bonfiglio Mark A. Ritchie Michael Steed
Presented by	David Letterman
Composer	Paul Shaffer
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	5
No. of episodes	28
Production
Executive producers	Justin Wilkes Dave Sirulnick Jon Kamen Tom Keaney Mark A. Ritchie Chris Cechin-De La Rosa Christopher Collins Lydia Tenaglia Mary Barclay Sandra Zweig Alexandra Lowry Tony Hernandez Lilly Burns John Skidmore Brooke Posch Michael Steed
Producers	Aaron Bergeron Mary Barclay Louise Shelton Charles Gant Jonathan Cianfrani Bronwen Epstein Helen Cho Aaron Latham-James Sonia Lisette Will Thwaites Jenny Morrissey Susan Rousseau Tommy Alter
Cinematography	Declan Quinn Kenneth F. Wales Cameron Barnett Brandon Alperin Jeremy Leach Ethan Mills Mo Fallon
Editors	Jesse Gordon Edward A. Bishop Paul Little Dave Marcus Dave Carter Claude Shires Jon Philpot Jennifer Gill McGarrity Tom Patterson Dan O'Brien Christopher Dillon Cori Wapnowska Jasmin Way Brian Ray Matt Askinazi
Running time	44–61 minutes
Production companies	RadicalMedia Worldwide Pants Zero Point Zero Production Jax Media
Original release
Network	Netflix
Release	January 12, 2018 (2018-01-12) – present (present)

My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman (commonly referred to as My Next Guest) is an American television talk show hosted by David Letterman that premiered on January 12, 2018, on Netflix. The series consists of interviews with one guest per episode both inside and outside a studio setting. The show has received generally positive reviews, with its format, Letterman's hosting, choice of guests, and insightful conversations receiving praise. My Next Guest has been nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Hosted Nonfiction Series or Special four times.

Production

Development

On August 8, 2017, Netflix announced it had ordered a six-episode interview series starring David Letterman. Each hour-long episode was set to feature Letterman conducting a long-form conversation with a single guest and in-the-field segments, in which he would explore topics on his own.

On January 5, 2018, it was announced that Letterman's guests in the first season would include Barack Obama, George Clooney, Malala Yousafzai, Jay-Z, Tina Fey, and Howard Stern. It was also announced that the series would premiere on January 12, 2018, with Letterman's interview with Obama. This interview was Obama's first since leaving office.

On December 14, 2018, it was announced that Netflix had renewed the series for a second season consisting of six episodes. On May 31, 2019, five new episodes were released. On June 21, a bonus episode was released.

Music

The show's theme song and bridging music were written and recorded by Letterman's long-time bandleader, Paul Shaffer. Soon after it was announced publicly that Netflix had given the series an order, Shaffer received a phone call from Letterman asking him to work on the show. Soon after, Shaffer began to receive cuts of episodes from the first season and he started to put music in afterwards where the director thought it was needed.

In developing the sound of the show's music, Shaffer initially looked to Letterman for guidance. Finding none, he remembered his and Letterman's shared love for the sort of music produced at the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Sheffield, Alabama describing it as "the honesty you hear, the southern soul feeling." The score initially included drums but the show's producers and director thought that the music should "feel like it's Dave's old friend Paul playing," so it was ultimately stripped down to solely include piano, organ, and bass guitar.

Reception

Critical response

The first season of My Next Guest Needs No Introduction has been met with a positive response from critics. On the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the first season holds an 83% approval rating with an average rating of 6.79 out of 10 based on 29 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "My Next Guest may not be groundbreaking, but a more intimate setting provides ample room for intelligent, insightful interviews with interesting subjects that go beyond standard late-night conversations." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the season a score of 70 out of 100 based on 13 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominee(s)	Result	Ref.
2018	Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards	Outstanding Informational Series or Special	My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman	Nominated
2019				Nominated
2021		Outstanding Hosted Nonfiction Series or Special		Nominated
2022				Nominated
2023			My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman and Volodymyr Zelenskyy	Nominated
2024			My Next Guest with David Letterman and John Mulaney	Won

External links

• at IMDb